Whit MacLaughlin
Whit MacLaughlin is the OBIE and Barrymore Award-winning Artistic Director of New Paradise Laboratories, which is based in Philadelphia. He has conceived, written, and produced 25 original works with the company since 1996. His work is known for its strong visual sensibility, its intense movement work, and its exploration of the intersections between popular culture and deep philosophical discourse.
Whit's early training was with the great teacher Alvina Krause of Northwestern University in Chicago, who invited him to become a member of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble in Northeastern PA. There he became a leading member of the BTE company, and joined the leadership of the group after Krause’s passing. He continued his studies at Virginia Tech University in the mid-1990s, where he met and formed the group of actors that became the core of his New Paradise Laboratories company.
NPL’s shows from 1997 onwards, which were regularly presented at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, included Gold Russian Finger Love (about James Bond) and The Fab 4 Reach the Pearly Gates (about the Beatles). In September 2001 they presented This Mansion is a Hole: Hugh Hefner Throws a Party at the Center of the Universe. (The story of this production was told in a chapter for our book Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia.)
Some of Whit’s more recent work with NPL for the Philadelphia stage includes: The Adults (2014), O Monsters (2016), Hello Blackout (2017), and 707 Hazardous Moves (2021). Of particular delight to many generations of Philadelphia children are his directions of many children’s plays and musicals for the Arden Theatre Company.
Whit MacLaughlin’s work frequently breaks free of conventional stage presentation, and has included large-scaled outdoor and indoor experiences, includingHow To Get To The River (2022), an ecological art adventure for the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia, and Gumshoe (2017) for the Central Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia. He has also helped create the web-based immersion pieces Extremely Public Displays of Privacy (2011) and Fatebook (2009).
Whit’s work has been presented in New York City at Richard Foreman’s Ontological Theatre, at the Connelly Theatre, and at PS 122. He has worked nationally at the Walker Art Center and the Children' s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville. Internationally he has developed pieces for the Prague Quadrennial, and the Turkish National Theatre in Ankara.
